Twilight
by Spacefille
Summary: When the Preventer Cruiser crashes in a remote jungle setting, Wufei and Sally find themselves separated and stalked by an ancient threat... translated: I had much fun writing a dramasci fi suspense fic.
1. ::Twilight: Chapter 1::

**Twilight**  
By Marie  
((AC198))  
~~~

Chapter 1

"This is Preventer Cruiser 002, Water reporting," The woman, Sally Po, spoke casually into the cruiser's radio. At the same time she squinted out the main view screen of the squat little ship, wincing slightly at the sight she saw there. The clouds in front of the cruiser were dark and menacing, laced with flashing lightening that lit the cockpit. It was way too dangerous to attempt to land the cruiser in the torrential jungle below... she glanced at her partner, getting a slight nod of assent. 

"Aborting mission," she sighed._ 'Damn it,'_ she added mentally. It was the first time in a while that anything truly interesting had come up at the place where she and her young partner, Wufei Chang, worked... the Preventer HeadQuarters. The Preventers were an organization formed to help stop a world and space war like the one back in AC195 from ever happening again. Recently it seemed like the Preventers were a successful organization as well... nothing had happened in mouths which even came close to indicating terrorism was afoot and terrorist activity hadn't been reported anywhere. No mobile suits were being made at a secret base somewhere. No Gundamanium was being shipped about in the Earth Sphere illegally. Nothing had been happening-- which made work for them very boring. 

That was why she and Chang Wufei were so excited when the report of some sort of unknown pirate signal was being broadcast from somewhere in the south-western hemisphere. A pirate signal meant Work. And maybe rebels. Perhaps an uprising to boot. And that was also the reason why it was so darn frustrating now. To be turned back because of a simple tropical storm... 

"It's too dangerous to go in there, Air. Investigation of pirate signal will continue tomorrow. Bringing ship about. See you in space." She dropped the handset, turning to "voice" her displeasure by scowling slightly at her partner, Chang Wufei. 

Wufei was oblivious. "Bringing cruiser about," he reported dryly, his fingers making short work of the controls. 

Sally fastened her safety harness tightly, turning her glower towards the ever-menacing clouds. "Damn you!" She told them. 

Wufei afforded her a slight glance and a smile. "There will be another day." He told her evenly before returning his attention to the controls. Sally grinned and nodded.

The cruiser banked then began to climb under Wufei's expert piloting. Their position caused the view screen to rotate to show the amazingly clear sky above them, complete with the sparkling lights of many stars and the closer pinpoints of light that were the colonies. Sally smiled. And then stopped. 

Even as the cruiser continued to climb and gain altitude, a sudden darkness seemed to pass in front of the ship, the lights from the colonies and stars blinking out one by one. She frowned. That... that wasn't normal... even the storm couldn't move that fast... could it...?

"Wufei?" She questioned, turning her attention back to her partner. Wufei was frowning as well, glancing quickly between his controls and the view screen. His sensors on the control panel, though very limited due to the present electricity in the air outside, were flashing brightly, indicating that *something*... 

"Hang on!!" He shouted suddenly, gripping the console in front of them. Sally gasped as an instant later she was thrown abruptly against her safety straps, the cruiser banking sharply as a large crashing sounded came from outside of the cockpit. The cruiser's engines screeched with displeasure and all the lights in the cabin flickered. Sally turned wide eyes to Wufei, noting that the boy was out of his seat and standing, his face taunt as he rapidly hammered at the controls. 

"What was that??" She demanded to know. 

"I don't know!" He shot back, pounding some more against the controls. "But we've been hit!"

Sally lurched against the safety straps again as the ship rocked erratically. "By WHAT??!" 

"I don't know..." his voice trailed off, his fingers dancing. A look of relief flooded his Asian features as the engines whined more and the cruiser began to turn about. Then the ship banked again. And stopped moving. 

There was complete and utter silence. There were no lights on in the cockpit at all any longer. Wufei's control panel was dead, the bright sensor lights dark and dull. No lights meant... _No power,_ Sally realized, her blood running cold. No power meant..._ No engines... _

Lighting crashed against the main screen. In that instant the cockpit was illuminated, and time froze. The picture it formed was one that Sally was sure would be embedded in her mind for years to come... Wufei stood rigid, utter disbelief and partial fear on his face evident as he stood staring at his controls... 

... As their craft hovered precariously in mid-air... 

And then Sally felt her heart leap into her throat as they began to drop. 

"DAMN!!" Wufei shouted, diving forwards. He beat his hands against the controls, only to find that to be futile. Finally in desperation he smashed the glass to grab the manual control lever and yanked on it with all of his might, throwing himself back. 

The effort produced little effect beyond perhaps tilting the cruiser at something a little less than a completely vertical drop. Sally returned her horrified gaze to the view screen. Darkness was rushing by them at an incredibly *fast* rate... "We're going down!" she shouted unnecessarily. She was at her own controls instantly, trying to get the ship to respond to her co-pilot commands. _No power, _she had to remind herself. _No power meant no control..._

She glanced at the radio that she had so recently held in her hands. It was dead. _No power meant... _

"WUFEI!!" She screamed in desperation. 

"Radio for help woman!" he snapped back. The lever was still clenched in his hands, and he was still futilely straining against it for all of the little good it was doing them. 

Sally yanked the useless headset from the wall. "IT'S _DEAD_!!" She screamed again.

Wufei stared at her for what seemed to be forever, his face blank as his mind refused to process that. No radio, no help, no power... 

No solutions came to mind. He opened his mouth and closed it again, shaking his head slightly. If at all possible Sally's eyes became ever larger in the darkened cockpit, desperation on her face as she turned her gaze back to the view screen, mouth opening to shout a curse... or something...

Another crash sounded from outside of the cruiser, loud and commanding in his ears. A flash of light lit the cockpit. For a moment all he heard was the wrenching screech of medal against medal and then he realized that Sally was moving away from him even as she rocked violently against her seat's halter. 

And then he realized that it wasn't Sally that was moving away from him... he was moving away from Sally. Very rapidly. She looked up at him and shouted something which the thunderous noise about him drowned out... a hand futilely reaching out...

It was the last thing he remembered before loud darkness and driving pelts of wet enclosed his face -- body -- and then his whole entire world went blank. 

~~~ 


	2. ::Twilight: Chapter 2::

~~~  
**Twilight**  
Chapter 2   
~~~

The woman named Sally Po came too with a start, wincing and bringing her head up with exaggerated care. The first thing she realized was the fact that she was still alive. The second thing that she realized was that she *HURT.*

Not only that, one of her arms seemed reluctant to work. Wincing she brought her other arm up slowly, pressing her palm against her forehead gently before she broke open her eyes. 

She focused in on brown textured cloth. Stained with dried or drying water. Blood? What the *hell*??

Her lap. She was looking at her lap. Grunting softly she brought her head further up, blinking at the sudden brightness. Light. She saw fractured light. She blinked. 

_'Oh my...'_ It was the view screen. Shattered into several tiny pieces in an intricate spiderweb of light. Beyond it, pressed against it and seeming to eagerly want to eat up the spaces in the glass cracks, was an abundance of foliage. Right in front of her... 

_'Nothing can shatter that thing.'_ She thought dully of the view screen._ 'It's supposed to withstand weapon's fire in *space* damn it, how could...' _

Things began to click more rapidly in her mind. She was still tied down... by her halter. She was still sitting in the cockpit of the cruiser. Unnaturally twisted metal flooring extended out from beneath her feet. A very VERY damaged console laid by her side, mangled so that it was barely recognizable. She stared at that as well in mute amazement. If the view screen and the consol could have taken that much damage then how the *heck* could she be still alive...??! 

Other senses began to kick in... her hearing for one. Birds. Animal sounds. Leaves rustling in the wind. All the sounds were too close and too sharp sounding to be shut out by walls... 

Suddenly she remembered. 

WUFEI!! Scenes flashed through her mind in rapid succession -- the plummeting vessel, a blinding flash of light, Wufei being wrenched away, cool rain on her face as she screamed over and over and over again... 

Letting out a silent cry, Sally turned her head towards the left side of the cruiser, only to find that the left side of the cruiser didn't exist anymore. A gapping jagged hole extending from ceiling to cockpit floor was formed in its stead. The whole entire side of the cruiser had been ripped away. 

Wufei was gone. 

~~~

_'If he's gone, he's gone.' _She shook her head slightly._ 'Your survival comes first. And if he is still alive, than you can go find him *after* you've found out if you even have the ability to do so.' _Drawing in a deep breath, Sally began to unhitch her straps. She *was* right, she reasoned with herself silently, her working hand fumbling. _'In this foliage it may be even better if you just focus on getting the radio fixed and have rescue teams look for him...'_

She pressed her lips into a fine line and continued working on her straps. 

It took her little less than an hour to get herself away from the twisted wreckage of the Preventer cruiser and assess the damages to both herself and her transport. The cruiser was damaged beyond repair and was never going to fly again, she had decided quite abruptly. She, however, wasn't damaged beyond repair and was most likely going to survive. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, wincing slightly. The military doctor training in her had quickly assessed her condition and she had repaired herself with relative ease. She smirked slightly, pleased with herself. Even a boy she once knew named Heero Yuy would have been impressed. Her left shoulder had been dislocated, which explained that arm's reluctance to function properly. She had fixed it herself with a shot of morphine, the side of the cruiser and her other arm. The injured arm now resided in a makeshift sling around her neck. Her ribs were bruised and ached every time she breathed. Nothing much she could do about that. She had several scraps and bruises, especially to her head and arms... but none of them were fatal or even critical. She had survived the crash amazingly intact.

The cruiser however, had not survived the crash at all. It had been reduced, quite literally, to a disfigured heap of scrap metal. As for the inside, the radio would have been okay, but there was no power at all to activate it any longer. Looking despairingly at the hulking remains, she once again climbed on board the ship, moving though the cockpit to the back compartment, inspecting the tiny utility sleeping compartments. They were in a little bit of better shape. Sighing Sally reached down and picked up the first aid kit she had brought out and put it back carefully into the slightly mangled wall. She then walked into the last compartment, the place where the rest of the supplies resided. There was a large hole in the hull here too, and most of the spare equipment and space suits had been torn away. 

There were still some supplies left, scattered about the room, she noted with relief. Thank goodness. Crouching down she gathered up a couple of the remaining sacks of rations, dubbing a couple of the damaged ones as "good enough anyway." And then she spotted the most valuable item of all. 

Stuck between foliage and a couple of peices of metal the corner of a back up power cel could be seen. Letting out a little yelp of happiness, Sally dug it out of the mess, flinging branches and huge leaves out of her way. Perfect, she thought, dusting it off with her good hand and inspecting it carefully. It looked like it was still in working order. With this she could hope to perhaps power the main radio up again and call for help... 

As she leaned down to pick up the burdensome object, another object slipped out of her belt and clattered to the floor. 

It was her short wave radio. She stared down at it, he breath suddenly hitching. 

_Wufei... _

She shook her head sharply. _'The rescue teams would look for him...'_

Screw that. She was fine. Her shoulder was aching -- badly -- but it was going to be okay. She had a power cel and the radio and more than likely could get both the objects to work. She was going to go looking for her missing partner, no matter what the odds were of her finding a body intact, let alone alive. 

It was a little less than a half an hour later that Sally sat back in the battered cockpit, fiddling with the short wave radio. She was tense... her shoulders set and lips pierced as she tuned the small device to the proper frequency. A quick scout of all the area around the crash site had revealed nothing, except for one of the spacesuits, torn quite to pieces and residing in the upper portion of a huge tropical tree. 

He was dead. 

He had to be. No one could survive being thrown from a cruiser as a portion of it was being ripped away. She paused. ... except maybe for Heero Yuy. 

_Yes, but..._ she reasoned with herself silently. _Wufei *isn't* Heero. _

Still it was enough. She had to try. Bringing her good arm up, she clicked on her radio, forcing her voice to be calm and steady. 

"Dragon, this is Water... come in please..." 

And a couple seconds later in a slightly more strained voice... "Wufei... if you can hear me, Wufei..." 

~~~

:: Wufei.. .::

It was... a voice.

He could hear a voice. Moaning softly, Wufei turned an aching head toward the noise. 

There was static. Ah. His mind placed things together. Belt clip. Short wave radio. Partner. Sally. That made sense to him... the voice he had heard belonged to her. 

:: Wufei, _*static* _- ou can hear me...:: Even over his personal radio her voice sounded distressed. :: Wufei, this is Water... please reply... :: Her voice cracked. Stupid woman, he thought for a moment, making a face to show his exasperation. I'm right h... 

_... where am I?!_

He allowed his eyes to slit open a crack, slowly focusing on the world about him. It was green. Very green. And dark. And damp. He blinked a couple of times, trying to get his eyes to clear. Where....

:: _*static*_ - fei... :: 

There. His eyes focused on the small black object where it lay half buried in leaves a little less than two feet away from his head. "Sally..." he began, then belatedly remembered that he had to click a button first. Wincing he went to move his hand to grasp the tiny object. 

And stopped. 

He couldn't move his arm.

Eyes widening, he attempted to move his other arm. It jerked to the side slightly, then stopped as well. 

What...?

He attempted to struggle into an upright position and failed at that miserably. He fell abruptly back into foliage, his shocked mind attempting to process this...

Was he hurt? No, a quick mental assessment of bodily signals informed him that he amazingly all right. What then? He was *restrained*...?!

He managed to strain his neck upward slightly to take in the fact that yes, he was restrained, but by nothing that appeared to be man made. Thick, almost unnaturally smooth vines seemed to be curled tightly around his arms and legs in several places, holding him effectively on his back in a little nest of greenery. Still wide-eyed, Wufei jerked tentatively against them a couple of more times... nothing gave. 

Breathing in once, sharply, Wufei *thrashed*. Still nothing gave. If at all, he could have sworn that the vines got tighter. Now he was still effectively pinned and worn out to boot, he reflected darkly. Cursing himself for not thinking clearly and attempting to assess his situation *first*, the slightly panting Chinese pilot scowled. He turned his head to stare upwards, taking in the large canopy of trees and branches above him, so thick that they nearly blocked out all sun. _'Calm.' _He commanded himself. _'You need to...'_

:: Wufei, this is Water... :: the crackling radio continued. Sally's voice was definitely distressed, and it was something that irritated Wufei slightly. _'And you calm down as well, woman,' _He thought at her._ 'I cannot *think* clearly with you carrying on like......' _

He jerked his head back to stare at the small radio. Sally's voice wasn't anything like he was used to it being. She sounded like she was very much in distress, and her voice full of emotion... tears? There was something else to it as well... was it fear? Why would she be that concerned... 

And he suddenly realized why. 

Sally thought he was dead. Which he wasn't... Wufei closed his eyes briefly. 

This was a fine mess. _My partner's out there somewhere.. alone... and I need to let her know that I'm okay... _

He reopened his eyes again, narrowing them in determination as he focused on the small crackling object. He *needed* to get in contact with her. Somehow.

Focusing on relaxing, Wufei let his arm go completely limp. There. After a moment it was as if the vine that was presently gripping his wrist relaxed as well, loosing slightly. Now if he just moved his arm - slowly - in that direction...

He let out a shocked cry as the vine suddenly constricted, gripped his wrist with a violent force, jamming his hand back against his side. 

At the same time Wufei saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Jerking his head up, he focused on the movement. Another vine. Incredulous Wufei watched as the tendril crept of the bushes around his head, seeming to be almost intelligent-like as it began to feel about. It stopped when it came upon the active radio. Slowly it began to curl around the device.

:: -fei please re - _*static*_ ::

Wufei's eyes widened with horror. The sound from the radio was cut off very suddenly as the vine constricted on the noisy little object. The vine continued to constrict and continued... with a slightly popping sound the electrical device broke, bits of silver metal and black plastic littering the ground around it. Seemingly satisfied, the vine released it's grip and un-coiled slowly, dropping the rest of the shattered object before slinking back in the leaves. 

~~~


	3. ::Twilight: Chapter 3::

~~~  
**Twilight**  
Chapter 3  
~~~  
It was about ten minutes later when Sally finally dropped the short wave radio in her lap, her shoulders slumped forwards slightly in despair. Twin drops of water fell from her dirt streaked face to stain the already ruined fatigues below. She stared down at then bleakly before something clicked in her mind. _'Stop it,'_ she mentally commanded herself. _'Pull yourself together Sally... damn it, *crying* about it isn't going to help you or anybody...'_

Wufei was her partner though. Her friend. And now he was gone. She shook her head once, sharply. 'It doesn't matter. Think about it later.' 

She drew in a shaky breath and stood on weak legs. Arching her neck, she peered up at the tiny patch of exposed sky above the clearing that the cruiser crashed in. Her eyes narrowed as she noted the position of the sun above the trees -- a habit she picked up from way back when she was fighting in the jungles of China. It was about 3:30, she guessed. A little less than 6 hours of daylight were left...

Forcing herself to think of only of what was necessary, she began to make a mental checklist. Radio. First priority. Get it going before nightfall, and be out of here by tomorrow morning. Otherwise it could be a good couple of days before the Preventer Headquarters realized that they never made it too space, and where instead somewhere on the ground. And in this foliage she wasn't putting her hopes up too high that they'd locate her and the cruiser wreckage right away either... 

She made a face, and then shuddered at a sudden realization. She was going to have to spend the night. Here. In a desolate jungle in the middle of *no where*. 

Her mouth twisted up into a slightly bitter smile. Second priority then. Gather wood. 

~~~

"Damn!" She miscalculated and the screwdriver dropped from her tired hand again, skittering across the metallic floor of the cruiser. Brow knitting in frustration Sally reached down and picked it up again, carefully moving loose tendrils of hair out of her eyes at the same time. _'This is more than frustrating,' _she decided grimly, refocusing on attempting to get the back off of the radio with one hand without damaging any of the delicate circuitry beneath.

The backup power cell had spliced together nicely with the radio, but when she turned on the electronic item all she gotten was a short fizz of static and then nothing. That was over three hours ago. Desperation to be rescued combined with the encroaching dark forced her to continue poking at the seemingly dead object, convinced that she could find some way to fix it. After all what else was there for her to do? Giving up meant... she frowned, raising her head to gaze at the rapidly setting sun. Wufei and her had known for a fact that the pirate signal came from uninhabited territory when they set out on this mission, so making a hike to civilization was out of the question... there was no civilization about anywhere. 

Sally let out a small squeak of surprise; almost dropping her screw driver again. In her narrow-mindedness she had totally forgotten the original mission parameters. If there was a *radio signal* they were sent to investigate, then more than likely there were people nearby. And if not, she could always *use* the signal to her advantage. Perhaps. That all depended of course on how many of the enemy were in the area, (or whoever it was who was broadcasting the signal,) but it was an idea. And if she couldn't get near a radio, she more than likely could steal a vehicle of some sort.... 

Smirking, Sally placed the ship's radio down gently, and fingered the short wave radio at her hip. Depending on how close to their objective they had been when they had crashed, she knew she could more than likely hone in on the signal and then it's location...

Hmm. Her mind wandered, remembering her recent futile call for Wufei. This all was, of course, assuming that nobody had picked up on her signal earlier and was expecting her. She cursed silently. It would just be her luck if they knew she was here somewhere. But, then again, she could deal with that too... after all she *had* spent a good six months of her life fighting as a guerrilla terrorist in the middle of China....(1) 

She frowned again, mind switching tracks as she eyed the clearing from her vantage point from the framed entrance of what used to be the sleeping quarters. She had boxed herself in, a large pile of wood gathered and placed strategically at the other end of what used to be the cockpit. She had no intentions of spending the night in the dark, but darkness was arriving swiftly. She sighed, patting her short wave radio affectionately and climbing to her feet. Checking out the enemy would have to wait until after nightfall. Right now she had a fire to start. 

~~~

_'Okay,'_ Wufei thought to himself darkly. _'I get the general idea. I'm helpless. I can't move. Yes... I may even be a little bit afraid. Huh. Imagine that,' _He suddenly envisioned Sally's laughing eyes and teasing smirk. _'"the great Chang Wufei is *afraid* of something..?!"' ... stupid woman.' _Very rare enduring smile leaving his face quickly, Wufei huffed slightly, clenching his bound fists as he turned his gloomy gaze to the rapidly darkening green canopy above him. If something drastic didn't happen soon, he thought, he was pretty sure he was going to get quite upset as well. It had been a good half a day all ready since his radio had been pointedly smashed for him, and night was now falling around him. 

For the rest of the afternoon he had meditated as best as he was able... but this was ridiculous. He wanted out. He needed to get back to Sally, if not to reassure her, for the sake of helping her in anyway he can. A small thrill of fear threaded through him. The unitelligible signal they had been sent here to investigate... what if who ever it was who were running it found her? If the perdicament he was in presently had anything to do with the signal, Sally might be in more trouble than he thought. 

He glowered down at the vines that held him. They were obviously either intelligent or controlled by someone... he had figured that much out at least easily. They interpreted his every move, foiled his every attempt to free himself. But when he wasn't struggling, they lay dormant... something that disturbed him without a doubt. 

"If you wouldn't mind, I would like to go now." He called out suddenly into the encroaching dark. 

Silence. Not a reply, not a movement. Wufei tested the bonds again, then fell back, sighing heavily. Forcing himself still, he shut his eyes. _'Lets try this again...' _

Within minutes he had entered a meditative state again... expanding his consciousness, he began to mentally go over every sound -- every presence about him, whether it be plant or animal. When that didn't turn up anything unusual he plunged deeper... looking... searching....

He was just about to give up again and slip back into a higher, safer plane, when something off to the far fringes of his mind caught his attention._ 'There!' _

Puzzled he studied it from a distance, trying to figure out exactly what *it* was. It... wasn't human. At least it didn't appear to be human. Brow furrowing, he stepped closer, sending out a mental inquiry which was the rough equivalent of 'Hello?' 

Nothing. He had to get closer. Approaching a few more steps, he tried again. 'Hello?'

Now he got a response -- though it definitely wasn't the one that he was expecting. He suddenly was overwhelmed with feelings of obscurity, of an old sense of power, and above all a threatening menace -- and whatever it was...

Slight alarm coursed though him. Whatever it was, it was expanding rapidly, advancing with the night, and above all... 

It was coming right for him. 

Panicked Wufei pulled himself out of his meditative state with a start. He was breathing heavily, his every breath being sucked in and out through clenched teeth. A light sheen of sweat covered his body, and every muscle was tensed... he was unconsciously straining against his living bonds, trying desperately to get away. Complete darkness surrounded him... night had fallen while he was out and he couldn't see a thing... 

But he could feel. All about him, the presence hovered, upon him now... so close to him that his skin crawled, his blood running chill. It was cool... cold. Watching. Waiting. "Who... are you?" he gasped. 

~~~

(1) Episode 10 of the series of Gundam Wing. I'm not quite sure how long Sally was fighting in China... it might have been less than 6 months... :D 


	4. ::Twilight: Chapter 4::

~~~  
**Twilight**  
Chapter 4  
~~~

((Chapter 4 Notes: I have no idea if Gundam Wing is supposed to be set in the far future or not, like _Star Trek_, or if it's in a completely alternate universe. I also don't know if any of the other Gundam series actually describe the time "Before Colony" or not. So I'm taking the liberties of assuming that GW is placed our own distant future. :D))  
~~~

A strange chill caught her and Sally shivered, her lips pressed together with concentration as she continued to tune the small device in her lap. The flickering firelight was hardly the appropriate lighting for what she was trying to do, but Sally had no intentions of attempting to do the alternative... which would be trying to sleep. Experience had taught her that night was a far more dangerous place than the day. Not only that she had to be prepared in case of a surprise attack... 

Narrowed eyes raised from her task and Sally inspected the now blackened clearing carefully, taking in the barely discernible outlines trees, shapes... only half reassuring herself in the meantime that nothing was out there. The sounds of animal habitation were amplified with the night, and the sharp animal calls that were followed by eerie silence were distracting to her. The natural human instinct to cower away and hide was strong... and getting stronger -- gritting her teeth slightly, Sally gripped the handgun at her side briefly and turned her attention back to the little radio. 

She was being illogical. She didn't particularly care though... her gun made her feel safe. _'Though,' _she thought ruefully. _'My *partner* would probably make me feel safer right about now...'_ she shook her head, banishing the thought... it hurt too much to think about it. Frowning she continued to carefully play her fingers over the tuner. 

There! Letting out a soft "a hah!" Sally's ears caught the dip in the static of her radio. Eyes narrowing, she moved the dial back a bare notch, attempting to get the signal again. 

Static. Sally frowned, moving it a fraction of an inch to the right again. Nothing; only more noise... 

She was about to give up and keep on searching when she shifted her body a slight bit, causing the static to shutter slightly before clearing just enough to barely make out a voice. 

The voice belonged to a male, she could tell that much, and at first she thought he was speaking in another language. Then she realized he was speaking in heavily accented English. Her eyes widened with shock and she leaned closer to hear it properly.

"... plese hellp. wee repet. Wee r sitesens ov the Yonited States of Amarica...." was all that Sally caught through the static before the signal faded out again. 

~~~

A chill darted through him and Wufei shivered, blinking rapidly. He couldn't see a thing in the darkness that surrounded him, but he could feel-- *it*... whatever it was, surrounding him. He breathed in once rapidly, then twice and again, trying desperately to calm himself. He was letting fear get the better of him, and that was something that he could *not* allow.

He relaxed forcibly, falling back on the now cool foliage, and repeated himself. "Who are you?" He hissed. 

Silence. A cool tendril of air seemed to brush against his face, and Wufei frowned. Suddenly he felt like he was under a microscope... he couldn't see a thing, but he got the general impression he was being inspected. *Very* carefully. 

He resisted the urge to strain against the plants that held him once again, and let out a tiny huff of frustration. His hands balled into tight fists as he glared out into the darkness. "I know that you are there. Speak or show yourself," he snapped. 

There was silence for only a few moments more, and then suddenly the presence moved. It contracted, became denser around the boy. A feeling of drowning suddenly over took Wufei, and despite himself Wufei resumed struggling against the vines, eyes wide...

_... can't *breath*..! _

Wufei quivered as the presence continued to envelop him. A silent scream lodged in his throat. _Drowning...._

He tried to gasp, straining, trying to do anything to suck air into his lungs. He was suffocating, whatever it was, it was suffocating him...! 

Desperately he thrashed about, twisting his head from one side to the other. He half berated himself as well, In any other situation he would have calmed himself completely and put himself into a state of deep meditation, but it was too late for that now. Now primitive need overtook all reason. 

Anything, *anything*, just to get air....

_'Stop it!'_ He thought desperately. _'I can't *breath*, I can't...!' _

He hadn't expected a reply. At least not one in his mind; but then one came, as clear as if were spoken out loud. 

::Hello:: It "said". 

In a rush he could breath again... Wufei sucked in a lungful of air and let out a long low howl of pure fright. The jungle around him somehow caught the sound and it echoed back to him, over and over again... 

_'Who the hell are you?!' _Wufei thought at it, trembling with half terror, half anger. He felt violated, he could sense more than see it looking around the *inside* of his head. The presence ignored him for a moment, and then Wufei felt it turn it's attention back to him. A sense of dark amusement came over him.

::Interesting::

_'WHAT'S interesting???'_ Wufei ground out at it. He was still gasping, his lungs laboring for the breath that couldn't have been gone for more than 30 seconds. He was upset at himself... he shouldn't have let himself lose control. And he was also upset at this *thing*, whatever it was, for being in his mind, for keeping him captive here like this... 

It spoke with pictures as well as words, Wufei discovered, as a mental image of himself, bound and straining against the vines came to mind. ::You are:: it replied. 

Wufei "stared" at the mental image of himself for a long moment. It was him... but the details on the metal photograph were too fine to be his own mental image of what he assumed he must have looked like at that moment. It was obviously what this thing saw of him in the physical world. He could "see" out of it's eyes then... or at least whatever it was wanted him to see at any given moment. 

Once again, Wufei turned his attention back to the presence. When he spoke again his voice wasn't angry any longer -- perhaps a little bit fearful, but it was more than a little bit intrigued. "... *What* are you??" he asked out loud.

~~~

Apprehensive, Sally clutched the radio in white knuckled hands, staring blankly flickering light of the fire she made. Citizens... of the United States of America... 

_'You've gotta be kidding.'_ She thought incredulously. Very, very carefully, Sally moved the dial a micro-inch, trying desperately to rezone in on the signal. 

The "United States" of America used to be a very powerful and distinguished nation that existed somewhere on the northwestern hemisphere, she remembered, trying to recall what she was taught back in her history classes when she was a very little girl. But they were decimated because of the Great War. And after the first Great War, (which everyone back in that time named the "Third" for some odd reason, she couldn't remember why)... it took the world a better part of a hundred years to rebuild it's self. The people living Before Colony vowed to never repeat history as they rebuilt technology... just bring back all of the perks and quirks of the devastated people before them. But no war. 

Too bad that war happened anyway... 

She smiled once, bitterly, bringing her gaze to back to her radio. Now all it was doing was picking up white noise... but still that signal...

Her heart fell slightly. If it were a true signal, then it had to be at least three hundred years old. A three hundred year old *distress call*. Bleakly she stared at the small radio in her hands. For some reason that didn't reassure her at all.

~~~

::I am:: 

The presence was silent for a moment, and then images began to flood Wufei's mind. ::I am:: It repeated, and an image of the canopy came to mind. 

_'You are trees?' _Wufei tried quickly, confused. He was a fast learner... and he was determined to find out what this presence was. After all it was always good to know as much as possible about ones enemies. The war had taught him that the same went for ones allies as well... 

Irritation flooded his mind, but it wasn't his own. ::No. I am:: the presence continued to send mental images to Wufei's mind, of trees, and then of the ground, and then beneath the ground... it took a moment for Wufei to figure out that he was looking at roots of the trees. The mental images panned back to around them, showing him and the vines... Wufei got it, or at least he thought he did. "You are the forest?" He asked out loud. 

Hesitation now from the presence. ::Yes and No. I am:: 

And then images of people came to his mind. People... natives of the area he assumed, from looking at the foliage in the background of the images. They were images of a little village, and it was full of people. Fascinated, Wufei watched as image after image of people flashed through his mind. They all had brown skin and black hair and eyes, and all of them seemed incredibly happy as they went about their village lives. The pictures focused on different aspects of the village, showing images of a primitive well like structure came-then continued, showing the people drinking from it. More pictures-- of circular shaped rocklike structures with huge leaves covering the tops of them, homes -- forming around the well, half buried in the trees. People - people coming out of the doorless homes and into the next freely. The people dancing, singing, laughing. Little children. And more images, and more... so fascinated and caught up was he in the display that Wufei nearly forgot to notice if he was bound or not any longer. Which he wasn't... the vines had loosened. Carefully Wufei sat up, massaging his wrists as he continued to "watch" the images in his mind, completely enthralled. 

When the images finally stopped a strong feeling of warm affection flooded Wufei. He loved them - he loved those people. Or rather the presence did. ... At least he understood the presence now. These people were *his* people. 

Wufei shook his head slightly. 'You are them then.' He corrected himself. 'You are all of it.' In "it" he meant the forest and the people... all of the images he had received. 

::It is where I come from:: the presence was silent for a moment, and then a feeling of disquiet fell over Wufei. 

"What is it?" He asked, climbing to his feet. He was grateful to have been released, and he tried to communicate that to the presence, especially since he a feeling he wasn't quite free yet. He could still feel the cool chill in the presence about him. And then it pressed against him again, closing in almost oppressively close. 

Wufei stumbled a bit, shivering. A feeling of dark slipped over him from the force as it closed in, replacing the feeling of love and affection with something cold. ... it was hatred. 

::Don't:: 

Wufei felt something re-curling around his ankle. Letting out a shout he yanked his foot away, only to trip... his other leg was in the process of getting bound again, vine as hard as iron against his leg. Letting out a grunt, he brought his hands up, trying to ward away the vines that moved out of the darkness towards his upper body, but there were to many of them. Latching back onto him with a deadly grip, they threw him roughly back to the ground. 

He lay there for a moment, stunned, then turned a blind furious glare to the presence about him. "What do you want with me?" He demanded to know. 

There was a pause. And then the images began running though his mind again, of those people. Except these ones where horrible as opposed to happy. They were dark... hideous. The people... these people were dying... had died, he realized. He watched images-the people, they got sick, open sores appeared on their skin. Their feet dragged, they no longer ran and laughed. They fell, they lay, and they never got up again. Died. All of them, left to rot. Wufei flinched involuntarily, shutting his eyes in a vain attempt to shut off the pictures. It was no use... they were in his mind. 

"Why?" he finally whispered tonelessly. 

The final strings of images were shown to him. They were elaborate... hard to follow. Wufei's brow crinkled. More people... these ones dressed in uniform, coming to visit the people. It seemed that everything was okay... until they left again, and the people began to get sick. They didn't return again... not until the people were all dead. Wufei watched as these people, now masked, burnt the clearing full of the stone houses, deliberately and systematically. They didn't even bury the bodies. 

"I don't..." His mouth snapped shut as an overwhelming sense of anger came over him. 

::You:: It seethed. A mental image of the masked uniformed people appeared again in his mind. 

"Me?!" Wufei retorted. "I had nothing to *do* with...!" He didn't understand *how* he could have been associated with the mental images. 

The feeling of suffocation was beginning to return again. He was then shown the image of the uniformed people once again. Then another mental image came to mind. It was of another clearing, fairly nearby and what he saw there made his blood run cold. The clearing was darkened by the night, a scant fire burning in the center of it. Behind the fire a woman sat, dressed in a dirty and torn uniform, her head bent down over an object in her lap, and her brow creased in concentration. As the presence eagerly focused in on her, she looked up, glancing around the clearing almost nervously before returning her attention to her lap. 

Delight came to his mind. Vengeance. 

Wufei "got it" all right. Feeling a desperation like he had never felt before, he wrenched against his unyielding bonds yet again, wishing to be free with all of his heart. "Don't!!" 

He *had* to get free... to warn Sally. A back part of his mind moaned at the hopelessness of the situation, but still he had to *try*...

The presence was planning to kill her. And him as well...

He stopped suddenly, eyes widening._ '... can't *breath*..!' _He was being suffocated again._ 'Damn it, can't...' _

Slowly he lost consciousness, unable to fight the darkness that overwhelmed him.

~~~


	5. ::Twilight: Chapter 5::

(Authors Notes: Well, this only took me a little over a year to update. Sorry about that by the way... guess I just lost interest for a while. O_o Anywho, back to fic...)

~~~  
**Twilight**  
Chapter 5  
~~~

Sally slept lightly and only for a couple hours in the early morning, when the sky had begun to lighten but the sun wasn't anywhere to be seen yet. Beyond that there wasn't time for sleep, and anyway, she didn't really feel particularly safe doing so. 

When the sun has risen enough to beam warmly down at her, she faded back into consciousness. Sally found herself laying out on her back, nestled beneath both a thin metallic emergency blanket designed for space as opposed to ground and the folds of her rather battered jacket. Yawning, she blinked up at the sky blearily. Quick eyes judged the position of the sun and she guessed that it was probably already nearing 8 or 9 in the morning. 

Time to get up. 

She yawned again and sat up, scratching lightly at the side of her face with her good hand. When her hand fell away it had dried blood caked under her fingernails, and she wrinkled her nose at the sight. 

_'I must look like a mess,'_ she reflected grimly. 

Ah well... there wasn't much she could do about that. Re-adjusting her sling around her sore arm she made a mental checklist of all of the things she needed for the day.

Flashlight. Compass... she thought she remembered seeing one of those in the Emergency Kit... 

Shortwave radio. Power cell that seemed to be totally *unwilling* to work with the main radio... she glowered at it. Supplies. Oh, and her gun. She smirked. She was going signal hunting. And if she were lucky enough, she'd find it. And if she was very VERY lucky, she's be able to use to send a distress call of her own...

She frowned. 

So why did she feel so antsy about this all anyway? Huh. She shook her head, trying to quell the feeling. It was just because it was an old signal that's all, she was sure. They probably didn't have very good search and rescue teams around in those days. She was sure that Lady Une would find her once she sent out a SOS. And then the rescue teams would be here to rescue her, and look for her missing partner.

~~~

About 5 hours later Sally had decided that if she ever got *out* of the jungle, she was never going back into one. The jungles of China had been one thing... it had been much easier to maneuver in the foliage there. The foliage was just thick enough to hide them but not thick enough to prevent them from moving about with moderate ease. Here though, here the foliage was thick, so thick in fact that her progress was slowed considerably. A lot of her time seemed to be dedicated to maneuvering *around* trees and about trees instead of *through* them. Frowning, she rechecked her compass and kept on moving. 

Her only consolation for the slow travel was the fact that the signal was becoming progressively clearer the further north she traveled. As she had discovered the night before the signal was a distress call. Not only that it appeared to be on a constant loop... it would repeat the "please send help" phrase five times over, pause, and then continue again about five minutes later. There were also other things it said beyond the comment that they were citizens of the former United States of America... it also informed the listener that they were peaceful scientists on a research mission, and pleaded for assistance from any nation at all. 

Both the rotation of the distress signal and the nature of the plea told Sally a lot about what she was to expect at her final destination. First of all the fact that it the signal had never been shut down indicated to her that she should be prepared to find some sort of abandoned way station... or perhaps a still occupied facility. Either way, it would be either vacant... or full of long dead bodies. She shivered a bit despite the humid heat, chiding herself mentally. You have an over active imagination, she told herself sternly. After three hundred years, NOTHING was going to be left... 

But the nature of the signal did leave her wondering why, exactly, no help had ever come for these people. That, she reflected ruefully, she wouldn't be able to answer until she got there... 

Assuming she ever *did* get there. She growled softly at yet another tree as she half climbed half maneuvered to get around it. She had had no luck so far and the more time she spent out here, the closer it came to nightfall again. She glanced up at the sky apprehensively, only to find that, from her present position, the foliage was too thick to see though. Frowning, she estimated to herself silently.

She had been beating about bushes and trees for approximately five or six hours. If she was right, it was now about noon, with about six seven more hours to go before nightfall. That gave her roughly two hours to find the source of the signal and send her own out before having to head back to the cruiser... unless of course, she intended to spend the night. Abandoned pre-war facility? *That* didn't appeal to her very much. Shaking her head she continued walking. 

She was in luck. Breaking past the next tree, she found that the jungle opened up, revealing a rather large but heavily overgrown clearing. Triumph and curiosity crossing her face, she stepped into it, then stopped, inspecting her surroundings with awe. 

~~~

Wufei came too with a start, moaning softly with the effort. For one frantic second he wondered where on earth he was, and then the events of the previous 24 hours came back to him in a flood. He moaned again, but this time sounded much more disgruntled. 

He sighed, then glanced down at his body. He let out a surprised sound, which was followed up with a soft sigh of relief... he was no longer restrained. 

He tilted his head back up. He could see the faint light of day flitting down through the trees, but he couldn't feel any of it, the foliage was too thick. His mouth slanted down into a pensive frown as he realized that he had no idea what time it was. 

Wufei sat up slowly, gritting his teeth against the pain as strained muscles protested the action. 

Strange. He rubbed absently at a wrist, blinking down at it. The physical evidence was there, indicating that he had been restrained over the last twenty-four hours. He could tell by the reddened marks on both his wrists and he was sure if he rolled up his pants he would find the same markings on his legs.

Yet for some reason the presence had decided to let him go. For some reason the thought was oddly disquieting as he climbed to his feet. 

After a moment he decided that he had more important things to think about right then... he remembered the presences' ominous warning from the night before. 

He needed to find Sally. 

He was loathed to admit it, but he was more than a little lost. He moved instinctually through the bush, unsure of his final destination. He had nothing to tell him what direction to go. So he followed vague trails where game had made their way through the bush. It came to a shock to him when he broke through the bush and found himself blinking in sunlight. For a moment he blinked to clear his eyes then let out a shout of joy and broke into a run.

A glint of metal at the far end of the clearing had appeared, gleaming dully in the mid-day sun. Despite its mangled exterior he could tell instantly that it was the cruiser.

~~~

It *was* a ruin from the dark days before the AC wars. Impressed but cautious, Sally decided to made a thorough inspection of the clearing, before approaching the half buried building opposite her. Her sharp eyes took in everything as she tread carefully through the underbrush. Even so she was startled when something crunched underneithe her shoe. Kneeling where she was near the center of the clearing, she reached down, touching the loose gravel under the grasses that was buried amongst a pale yellow powder. They puzzled her for a moment, until she figured out what the odd substance may be. Gravel amoung powder... it was probably the remains of concrete. 

Frowning, Sally climbed back to her feet and began to walk backwards to discover where the odd stones and gravel began. 

She soon discovered that the deteriorated concrete extended in a large and roughly circular shape around much of the relatively large clearing. Obviously, she guessed, the humans that once operated here, used helicopters or some other type of to get out of the forest. That didn't seem to make any sense to her. If the people could get in... then why couldn't they get *out*...? 

"Or maybe they did get out and just forgot to turn off their damned machine," Sally muttered to herself under her breath. That caused a smile to crack across her face. Smirking she decided she had enough of theorizing... she was going to discover the truth for herself. 

Sally turned her attention to the object in the clearing that fascinated her most. Those were the large dual set of steel doors at the very far end of the clearing. As she approached them she could see that, though time had eroded them a lot and vegetation hung thickly about it, there was evidence that the doors were attached to a much larger building that appeared to extend back further into the bush. 

She was within a couple feet of the heavily rusted doors when she tripped over something large and solid. Cursing a blue streak, Sally hopped on one foot in pain for a moment. Now both her ankle *and* her toes hurt. However there was no one was around for her to complain to, let alone care and after a moment she gave up doing that and crouched down beside the object. 

"Ohh... hello. What are we?" Sally questioned out loud. Carefully she reached down with her good hand and began to brush dirt and foliage from the metallic object. After a moment she had uncovered a very rush encrusted plate. Frowning slightly she squinted, trying her best to make out the lettering upon it. It obviously written in English, but it was a very ancient script. "Philadelphia 2nd - bio-genics research." she read. Her puzzled expression grew and she scraped at the rest of the plate only to find that the rest of the words at the top had been eroded away. However underneath the top there appeared to be more letters... after a couple of moments of struggling with the vegetation she managed to uncover it. "Commissioned on this date of June 30th of year 2012." Sally reread the words and blinked.

By the old calendar years, if she recalled correctly, the years 2013 and 2014 were the years of the Great War. That was roughly three hundred years Before Colony. She looked up and stared at the ominously shut doors of the facility where they stood out starkly against the green that surrounded them. "No wonder no one ever came for you." She whispered. "There probably wasn't anyone left that could." A brush of cool air blew against her sweat-streaked face and she shivered. She frowned deeper. 'No time to be getting the willies Sally,' she reproved herself mentally. Climbing to her feet she stepped determinedly over the plaque. The moment she cleared it her short wave radio at her hip click on again. 

"Please help..." It began loudly. 

Sally jumped a good foot in the air. "Jeez!" She said. "Stupid thing!" She added, once her heart had stopped pounding quite so hard. She forgot that she still had her radio on. The vocal loop of the distress signal had merely started up again. "Yes I *know*," she replied, clicking it off again deliberately. Well at least she knew she was at the right place now, she thought with a half smile. The distress signal came through crystal clear and static-less for the first time in over twelve hours.

Running her hand over her brow, she continued forwards towards the doors. "Now to get you open..." She muttered. 

~~~ 

Wufei made short work of inspecting the completely wrecked cruiser. Sally had abandoned it much earlier that day, he could tell as he unearthed the remains of a fire his partner had covered with greenery. Sally had left quickly, but not quickly enough for him to assume that she had been attacked... there were no signs of a struggle or anything of the like. Which only left him to infer that, wisely Sally had trekked off to try to find the source of the signal in the first place. "Smart woman," he muttered out loud to himself, a half smile gracing his lips. Instead of sitting around like a stupid idiot waiting to be either found or killed, or waiting for her partner to return, Sally had set off to ensure her own survival. He would have only done the same in her position. 

His suspicions were confirmed when he spotted a small folded piece of paper stuck in the seat of Sally's now twisted seat. Picking it up he discovered it to be a note to rescuers. 

"If you are reading this I'm not here." It said. Wufei rolled his eyes. "Our mission has failed. One man, Dragon, is down - lost in the crash. I'm okay. Found out that our objective is an old distress call from the Before Colony United States of America of all places... going to investigate. Suspect I can use radio to send our own signal..." Sally had then signed it "Water" and dated it. 

Wufei paled considerably, re-reading that bit of the note. '... found out our objective is an old distress call from the Before Colony United States of America of all places... so I'm going to investigate. Suspect I can use radio to send out our own signal...' 

Things clicked in Wufei's mind. Distress call. The people that the presence showed him, the people with dark skin and black hair didn't appear to *have* the technology to send out a distress call. More than likely whomever Sally was off to investigate were the uniformed people with the masks and the flamethrowers. If it were an "old" signal Sally had picked up, then that would make sense... 

He folded up the note, sticking it into one of the pockets of his fatigues. His mind went over the possibilities rapidly. 

Darkness wasn't safe. He had learnt that last night -- the presence had attacked him the moment darkness had fallen. He glanced up at the sky, his ebony eyes narrowing. There were six, maybe seven hours of daylight left. He calculated. They had been stranded now for about 30 hours... by this time the Preventer Headquarters were probably looking for them. They would look first in space... and then when they realized they weren't there they'd turn their attention to the ground. They'd have their ears open by now at very least. If Sally managed to send a signal out right *now* their locations may be pinpointed, and they may have the opportunity of getting out of here by nightfall. 

And if they *didn't* get out of here by nightfall? He cursed softly. He did *not* want to spend another twenty-four hours in this place. They had better get out of here by then. He made a quick physical assessment of the supplies that Sally had left-admittedly not much, but enough, and within minutes was hot on Sally's trail.

~~~

It took Sally nearly a half an hour to uncover the doors enough that she could try to pull them open... only to find that they were firmly locked shut. For a moment she assumed they had rusted shut and that a little bit of encouragement would help them open, but that refused to work. 

Letting out a soft sigh of frustration Sally was nearly about to give up and somehow hack her way though the bush in attempts of finding another entrance, when a gleam of a different color of metal caught her eye from off to the side of the doors. Eyes narrowing, she walked over to it and pulled more vines away from it. After a couple of more minutes of digging, she could see it was a small covered square. A couple of moments after that it became apparent to her that it was a control device of some sort.

Absolutely fascinated, Sally blew dust and dirt from its face, pressing down on it from all possible angles. Finally when she pressed near the bottom something clicked and it swung open quite suddenly. Sally took a surprised step back, then made a face as a small horde of bugs ran from the light as the inside of the panel was reveled. 

The bugs couldn't deter her for long. Sally let out an exclamation of delight. It was a keypad! It was an archaic keypad from the Old World, and it had the basic numbers 0-9 on it. "This is going to be a piece of cake," Sally muttered to herself. Smiling hugely, She rooted through her side-pack for her screwdriver and settled down to break the rest of the panel open. 

It was a little less than twenty minutes later when an odd heavy thudding sound came from the doors and Sally raised her head. Smiling she climbed to her feet, wiping her brow with the back of her hand yet again and approached the doors. This time when she yanked on them they slowly gave way with great moaning protest. The instant the doors were open a crack stale air rushed out to meet her, pregnant with decay and disuse and Sally wrinkled her nose. Her smile of excitement didn't fade however and she reached down and rooted through her sack, coming up again with her flashlight. Injured hand holding the flashlight trained on the blackness that appeared in the crack between the doors, she pulled one of the heavy doors the rest of the way open with her other one.

"Hello?" She questioned softly as she stepped inside...

~~~


End file.
